Ron Cusano

That quote is 100% accurate, and please not it say's "in our image" which is an indication to the pluarality of God. You are taking image to mean physical image, and it does not. Since God is spirit and does not have a body, in cannot possible mean "physical image", can it? The Hebrew word used that was translated to meane "image" was the word "Tselem" which means "to shade; a phantom, illusion, resemblance, a representative figure". As you can see, this does not necessarily mean a "physical image". Given what the whole of scripture teaches us about the spiritual nature of God, the explanation that gave you is the correct one. I have never heard a student of scripture explain it otherwise.

I mthink you have the wrong impression of the Strongs Concordance. First it is available for many different literal translations of the Bible. It is not a Bible, it is a dictionary of sorts giving the actual Hebrew or Greek word used in the oldest manuscripts, and their translated meaning into today's english by the worlds leading experts in this field. In essence, the Strongs Concordance is not trying to justify any translation, only provide the actual translated meaning, word by word for every single word used in the original manuscripts. It a very valuable tool used and recognized by all Bible scolars that I have ever known or heard of.

Thank you for saying that. If I sometimes come across in an inapproiate manner, I do apoligize, but I am very, very passionate about the Bible and my beliefs. They are my life. My purpose here is not to win arguments or to pressure people to believe what I believe because I believe it. My purpose is to present the truth of the scriptures, because that actually are true, and leave it up to God to deal with everyone on His terms and in His time. That is my obligation as a Believer. I must tell you that the Bible does teach that many will be offended by the Word, as I was many years ago. I thought of some the way some here preceive me. I was wrong, and perhaps somewhere down the line, others here will realize they have me sized up all wrong. I still have my old Italian temper (God isn't throught with me yet ) and when some post in a manner that I take as provoking and barbed, I sometimes tend to respond the same. It is wrong and I apoligize for that. The Holy Spirit is constantly refining us, and that takes place until we go home to be with Jesus.

I do apoligize for my typos, spelling, etc. and I can accept that it can be a problem. While I am a writer, I do unfortunately have to rely on Spell Check a lot, which we don't have here. A lot of the errors are typos because of arthritus and also being rushed at times, and again I apoligize. I hagve never claimed to be perfect, and indeed I am not!

That was intended as only none small area where the Catholic church was in error in this area. All the other areas of "Works" to obtain salvation are very much valid. Your examples or Oral Roberts and Jim Baker are also valid, but their mistakes were not doctronial mistakes about salvation that could lead men to hell. They were wrong, wrong, wrong, but false teaching abvout salvation is far more grevious.

That was intended as only none small area where the Catholic church was in error in this area. All the other areas of "Works" to obtain salvation are very much valid.

He was, but His primary reason for coming and His primary message was SALVATION! Anything else was secondary. Without salvation, social issues mean nothing.

I wouldn't! When you talk about those who are into handling snakes, standing outside abortion clinics with shotguns, etc., those, to me are ultra Conservatives and real kooks. What I consider Conservatives are those who accept the Bible literally and serve the Lord to the best of their ability, without allowing feelings and opinions to get in the way. And yes, I did say that the majority of the profession Christian church has strayed into liberalism and is following error in their teaching, and I make no apoligy for that. It is sadly true.

I am going to assume that this is a serious post, but I have my doubts! God created us in His spiritual image. Obviously, God is spirit and does not have a physical body,with the exception of when He took on flech and became a man as Jesus. Just as God is triune in nature (Farther, Son and Holy Spirit) so is man a triune being (Body, Soul and Spirit)

CORRECT! All believers are called to be priests to our God, and Jesus is the High Priest. Our designated priesthood is what gives us access to the trhrone of God the Father, in the name of Jesus the Son.

Saint Theresa and all believers are with the Lord (to be absent from the bodt is to be present with the Lord) and is alive in Heaven, but her body is dead until the resurrection. There is absolutely nothing in scripture to even suggest that the dead can communicate with us or make intercession for us. Quite the contrary! In the parable about Lazarus the rich man who is in Hell, watching his brothers on Earth. He wishes that he could communicate with them to tell tham what lies ahed, but the gap cannot be breeched. The Bible say's there is only one mediator between man and the Father, and that is Jesus alone. Prayers to anyone else, including Mary, and the saints, are to no avail. When the apostles asked Jesus how to pray, He gave the the example of what you call "The Our Father" or what others refer to as "The Lord's Paryer". The prayer is to the Father!! In many other areas of the New Testament, we are told that whatever we ask of the Father, we ask in the name of Jesus. So prayer is to be to the Father in the name of Jesus, through whom we have access to the throne of grace.

You have found plenty of time to "scream" about how my preaching troubles you, find fault with my spelling, and complaining about me personally, but you can't seen to find time to reply to all the answers I gave to your questions about real issues that effect your salvation. That is very interesting. Have you ever considered that maybe the Bible is correct? Can you have an open mind, and at least consider that what you have been taught and what Jesus taught may be at odds with each other? You asked, "why do I care"! Because I don't wnat a single soul to go to Hell because I didn't do everything I could to give them the truth. That's why I care.

Well, there is whare you are so wrong! Through Jesus, our mediator, we have direct access to the Father, in the name of the Son through prayer. And we are "our brothers keeper" and have an obligation to preach the Gospel to all people so they have a chance at real redemption for their souls. There are so many who are blind to the only way to have redemption, and without knowing the truth, they are condemned.

Doctrinal differences can make the difference between Heaven and Hell. The are not just "outward frills"! You are so concerned about liberal social issues that you are losing site of what is most important, you salvation on Gods terms, not yours.

I wrote a 2-page article for my column in a Christian Newspaper, spent considerable time in the scriptures and got plenty of other things done as well. Guess where my priorities are?

Forgive an old man for a spelling mistake. I am apparently not perfect like you!

In between all your screaming, you seem to want to do it your way or make it OK for everyone to do it their own way, and you disregard what Jesus wants. Have you considered that His way may not be Your way??

You asked me what the big differences were between Catholic teaching and Bible teaching and I answered you, but you never responded. I would be interested in knowing how you feel about this.

The problem seems to be that the Catholic churches the rule so often, no one can keep tract any more. Have you ever heard of 'Clinerary Indulgences"?? These were deals where for a certain amount of money, you could buy someone out of Purgatory! OK, that was a while ago? So, can you have sins forgiven without doing penenance? Without Absolution? Doing penence and going to confession are "works"! How about going to "mass", that is a "work" also. How about baptising your children? Acording to many Catholic funerals I have attended, being baptised, the priest say's, brings you eternal life. More works and your own merit, don't you think?? If you have anything to do with your getting to Heaven, that it's on your own merit. Kind of makes that cornerstone hard to comprehend then!

It is not rubbish at all! If I remember correctly, missing church on Sunday or eating meat on Friday, for instance, were considered mortal sins. Mayby the church has changed the rules, but God never changes. If Gods eyes, all sin is enough to seperate us from Him. I that is the case, then answer a question for me. How can your church say that someone can go to Hell for missing mass or eating meat on Friday, and then do an about face, and you don't go to Hell for those offences any more. What about all those folks who died and went to Hell before they changed the rules. Now, THAT is rubbish! Either something is truth or it's not. You can't keep changing truth!

To get to heaven, one must trust in Jesus alone for having paid the price for their sins, and accept that free gift from God. If one is trying to earn their way to Heaven, they are coming up short. That is the Gospel in a nutshell. If you as a Catholic believe that you can get to Heaven by your own merit, than you will not get to Heaven. Does that answer you question?

PS - I hope you are not taking this exchange as an attack, because it is not meant to be so. I am just sharing the differences between what you believe as a Catholic and what I now believe as a Bible Believeing Christian. When I first cam to believe, the first thing I did was go back to my Catholic church, and listen to what was said and taught, and compare it towhat I was reading. I wanted so much to hear these truths from the priests, because I was told I was born a Catholic and I would die a Catholic. When the difference became so apparent it was a matter of good conscience that I left, and it was the hardest, and most important decision I have ever had to make. I did not take it lightly.

These 2 sentences, and yes, I did see your footnote, nevertheless, it is one of the objection to the Creen. The other is even more striking doctrinally - We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We do not believe in baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus came and died to do that, and baptism has nothing to do with forgiving sins. The first century church was almost all Jewish, and baptish came from the Jewish ceremonial cleasing called the 'micver" forgive the spenning - which is what the Temple Priests did before offering the animal sacrifices. In the biblical sense, batpist is an outward sign of an inward change - that of believeing, and is done whan one comes to believe. This of course cannot occur with infants before the age of reason.

All that aside, I think the biggest and most important difference is how we deal with the sin and forgiveness issue. As a Catholic, I was told that Jesus died for my sins, but to have them forgiven and ba able to go to heaven, I had to confess them to a priest and get his absolution. Of courst, if I happen to die between Saturdays whe they had confession, and had commetted a "mortal" sin, I would go to hell. The Bible teaches that Jesus died for our sins, and that believing in who He was, and What he did was all that was required to have salvation. As a Catholic, I was told my good works and how I lived my live would enable me to earn my way to heaven, while the Bible say's that forgivness of sins and the right to Heaven comes as a free gift from Gos and has nothing to do with my good works. Aa Catholic, I was taught that the priest was the mediator between me and God, and that only He could grant me the forgiveness I required through absolution. The Bibles teaches that Jesus is the ONLY mediator between man and God. As a Catholic, I was taught that praying for the dead could have benefit, and praying to Mary and the saints could provide intersession for me to God. The Bible teaches that once you have died, you fate is sealed, and your acceptance or rejection of Jesus is the determining factor. It also teaches that Mary and the saints, like all of us, were sinners in need of forgiveness, and only Jesus makes intersession for Believers before the throne of God. There are the important differences that seperate Catholics and other Christian denominations, and that are very vital and eternity changing differences differences. That being said, I know some Catholics who believe this way, aside from Catholic teaching, and who I believe are truly saved. As far as The Nicene Creed, Conservative Christian denomination do not subscribe to it. The other Christian mainline church's have become very liberal and have strayed from biblical truth.

You misunderstand! Faith is indeed important, but I don't beleive God intends for us to have blind faith. He has provided evidences. Jesus said, "search the scriptures for they ate they that testify of me"! Either that is true or Jesus is a liar. Let me ask you a question! If you can't believe the accounts of Jesus from those who walked with Him, and you can't believe the Bible in whole, that on what do you base your faith? What do you have faith in and why?